Elementary school students will start growing accustomed to seeing law enforcement officers on campus with the beginning of a new program last week.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner thinks that the new program, which will give 16 deputies additional responsibilities as part-time school resource officers, will make young children more comfortable around law enforcement and more likely to come forward with safety concerns.

“All of us — law enforcement, educators and parents — want children to look at officers in a positive way,” Tanner said. “A school resource officer can be a counselor and a mentor and a good role model.”

Resource officers have been stationed at the district’s middle and high schools since 1995, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Under the new program, uniformed deputies can be assigned to elementary schools at no additional expense by having them check in during their regular patrols.

All 16 deputies have participated in additional training that started earlier this week.

“It’s unfortunate that young children often have a negative view of law enforcement,” said Jo Shirley, principal at Joseph S. Shanklin Elementary School. “If we can provide more positive and constructive experiences, that will be a very positive step.”

Acting Superintendent Jackie Rosswurm said that the new elementary school patrols will be an excellent addition to the district’s overall safety procedures, which include electronic admissions systems for visitors, keyless card access for staff, locked classroom doors during the instructional day, digital security cameras, updated emergency plans and emergency drills for all schools, exercises where school capabilities to respond to emergencies are evaluated and ongoing cooperative relationships with law enforcement.

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Thank you for protecting our schools. This is a terrific idea because gun free zones do not work in the U.S. and now we can ask congress to put funding back into the SSI program which allows schools in the U.S to obtain security funding.

The district should really enforce the rules that all outside doors except the front entrance remain locked. The school where my wife worked before retiring had locks that couldn't be opened from the outside, but would open from the inside for evacuation, like fire drills. But some teachers would put a block i or chair in the door so they could get back in if they went to their car and leave the block there. Maybe the school officers could check on those doors as a part of their routine.

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